“Love yourself first, and everything else falls in line.”

Sometimes, I forget this. I was feeling a bit down yesterday, and realised that I had forgotten to love myself. This started me thinking about all the other things I sometimes forget, so I wrote a list.

As you all probably know by now, I prefer to focus on the positives. And this list looked too much like a list of negative affirmations, so I crossed out the ‘forget’s and added ‘remember’, to focus on what I do want and encourage myself to remember these things more often.

Sometimes, I remember how AWESOME I really am.

I remember how beautiful I am, inside and out.

I remember that comparing myself to others only leads to insecurity and disappointment.

I remember what makes me happy, and I remember what I define as success.

I remember how blessed I am, and how much I have to be thankful for every single day.

I remember to recognise how far I have come, and how much I have achieved.

I remember that the little voice in my head is the ego, not love.

I remember that it doesn’t matter what other people think about me, it only matters what I think about me.

I remember to look at the good things in my life.

I remember that I am enough, just as I am.

I remember that I am a Goddess.

I remember that I am connected to everything in this Universe, that the beauty I see in the world is also within me.

I remember that obstacles and doubt can be overcome.

I remember that I am capable of achieving my dreams.

I remember to dream.

I remember to smile.

I remember to take care of myself.

I remember to breathe.

I remember to dance like no-one’s watching.

I remember to let go of guilt for doing what I love.

I remember that people are out to help me, not get me.

I remember that a bad hair day or a blemish is natural, not imperfect.

I remember that magazines, media and advertising aren’t real, but I am.

I remember that my thoughts create my life.

I remember that every moment is an opportunity to change what isn’t working, and be grateful for what is.

I remember that the dark parts of myself aren’t meant to be ignored, but embraced as part of my whole.

I remember that everyone is doing the best that they can.

I remember that I am doing the best that I can.

I remember that the good times are meant to be celebrated, and the hard times are meant to be learned from.

I want to remember these things every day. This is my continuous journey to having a never-ending supply of self-love.

Well, it’s the last week of 30 Days Of Beauty. What an amazing experience this has been! My mind has been blown by all the support and encourage we have received during these passed 30 days, and I am so grateful.

My self-worth has improved, and I feel pretty good to know that I can list 30 reasons why I’m beautiful whenever I want to. And then go on to list 30 more.

I can’t believe 30 Days Of Beauty is almost over. But I am so proud to be a part of it.

Another big thank you to all the absolutely amazing women who contributed to the 30 Days Of Beauty group post! I am still blown away by your beauty, wisdom and love, and I will always feel honoured to be in your company.

“We are all fascinated by beauty and many of us devote much of our lives to its pursuit. But physical beauty can only ever be held fleetingly. Real beauty is far greater – It’s a life force, an energy, which radiates from within and transcends the physical. It’s a vibe – you feel it in those who truly know they have it. Real beauty is not beauty generated purely for others’ consumption. Real beauty is beauty in action, not beauty that sits on the sidelines of life, worried it will run or get messed up. Real beauty may not always be visible at first glance, but it lasts forever.”

~ Anthea Paul

Hello beautiful!

Well, the 30 Days Of Beauty Challenge has been spreading self-love for a week now, and I am absolutely amazed at the response!

In less than a week, $90 has been raised for To Write Love On Her Arms. To everyone who has donated, thank you. So, so much. You have helped an amazing cause, and you are a force of good in this world.

To everyone who has shared this campaign on their blogs, twitter, facebook, and told their friends about what we are doing, thank you! Your support means more to us than you will ever know.

The first week of 30 Days Of Beauty has been more challenging than I expected. As Jen Fromal said in her post on The Smashed Planet;

“This was one of those times when I didn’t really know what I was getting into. Well, I kind of did, but I didn’t know it would actually be hard and I didn’t know it would make me uncomfortable.”

The planning part of this challenge was fun, exciting and kept me so busy that I didn’t think about the fact that every day, for 30 days, I have to see something beautiful about myself, and then tell the whole world about it.

Of course, when the idea for this challenge first came about, I was excited at the thought of digging deeper, seeing myself in a new light and promoting self-love. But when, on the 2nd of April, I was struggling to find something beautiful about myself already, I knew this was going to take work.

I sat at my laptop for a good 20 minutes, trying to come up with something. This is when I realised just how important this cause is – it shouldn’t be so hard to find one thing about myself that is beautiful.

Every single little girl and woman on this planet deserves to see how beautiful they are. Including me. That’s why I’m doing this. So that one day, without hesitation, or 20 minutes staring at a blank screen, I will be able to list at least 30 things about myself that are amazingly beautiful and wonderful, and then go on to list 30 more.

I eventually saw something beautiful in myself that day. Not a physical quality, but more related to how I live my life. I was feeling proud of myself because the night before I had done something that had been making me anxious for days; I went out to dinner and dancing with a group of the other expats here.

I know, to most people that’s not even something they would think about, it’s so easy. Most people don’t see how that could possibly scare someone, let alone keep them feeling panicked and anxious for days before hand. But the thought of being out in a club with a group of people, especially people that I haven’t known very long, used to paralyse me with fear so much that I never went out at all.

So, the fact that I had faced that fear, and had the courage to go out and live my life despite the sick feeling in my stomach and anxious worries in my head, is a big accomplishment for me.

It’s like someone who is afraid of heights jumping out of a plane every single day. I know that the more I jump, the less fear I will feel next time.

So, my tweet for that day, April 2nd, was this:

I face my fears every day, and no longer let my anxieties rule my life. #imbeautifulbecause

And I had never felt more beautiful.

Here are all of my other #imbeautifulbecause tweets for this week:

April 1st: Today, #imbeautifulbecause I am learning to see my own power, & how to use it to create my life.

April 3rd: I take the time to nurture and express my inner creative Goddess every day. #imbeautifulbecause

April 4th: When I smile, I can feel my body and soul smiling, too. #imbeautifulbecause

April 5th: Today, I’m taking the time to put myself first, and be still instead of wired in. #imbeautifulbecause

April 6th: I have big eyes, that really are the windows to my soul 🙂 #imbeautifulbecause

April 7th: I smile at myself in the mirror #imbeautifulbecause

April 8th: #imbeautifulbecause I can always find a reason to smile 🙂

I have been reading all of the #imbeautifulbecause tweets from women all over the world, and I am so inspired. I feel so blessed to be in the company of such amazing, beautiful women.

I’ve been doing some creative journaling lately, and man, is it AWESOME!

I don’t know how I lived 24 years without it. It’s such a creative, colourful, and sparkling way to heal and release my thoughts and emotions. I’m officially in love with it.

Here are some photos of what I’ve been creating:

Oh, and did you know that today (April 3rd) is Find A Rainbow Day?! How freakin’ AWESOME is that? A day to spread rainbow love and happiness and bubbles and sparkles and joy everywhere you go! 😀

You can read more about Find A Rainbow Day here, and read about rainbows (and a totally wonderful rainbow making machine!) here. I think this is my new favourite day!

If you don’t see any rainbows today, here’s one I prepared earlier:

Speaking of nature’s miracles, have you acknowledged the miracle of YOU today? Karen Mead from A Peaceful Path shared this video in her newsletter today, and it’s just so amazing. We really are all miracles!

In other news, I’ve been busy creating the My Smiling Heart ebook! Here’s a sneak peak of some of the awesomeness:

And, last but certainly not least, a big THANK YOU to everyone who has been participating in 30 Days Of Beauty!

We are only on Day 3 and there are already heaps of #imbeautifulbecause tweets that have been inspiring me so, so, so much! I feel so blessed to be in the company of such amazingly wonderful women.

This song is called ‘Say Hey! (I Love You)’, by Michael Franti and Spearhead, and I just LOVE it!

I listen to it almost every day. When I say listen, I mean I sing along and dance around the apartment like a lunatic, of course. It’s just so irresistibly happy, and full of good vibes that flow through the Universe, all the way into my soul. It is happiness.

I’m so happy right now, just completely over the moon – or should I say, over the supermoon! Maybe it’s the energies brought about by that beautiful full moon, or maybe it’s just me, but I feel AWESOME.

My view of the Supermoon, so beautiful!

I am exploding with gratitude. So grateful for that one moment almost six months ago, in which I chose happiness over everything else. Grateful for everything I have created for myself since then, and for everything the Universe has brought me as a reward for that one decision to be happy.

I am a hurricane of love.

And I want to express that love more freely, so I am going to make an effort to express myself creatively even more-so than I do now.

I want to paint more, create more, write more, live more, laugh more and love more.

I want to paint portraits, I want to start an art journal, I want to write a book about my year in China, I want to build meaningful relationships with people all over the world, I want to meditate more, I want to start doing yoga, I want to empower, inspire and make hearts smile, I want to do whatever you need me to do to help you see how freakin’ AWESOME you are.

I don’t want to sell out, conform to only writing top ten list or how-to posts, give in to anxiety, or pretend like I’m some sort of self-development guru that has it all together and promises you true happiness all at the discounted price of $99.99 – because I’m not a guru, I don’t have it all together, and I can’t promise you happiness – your happiness is up to you.

What I can do is be here, now, to go on this journey with you. I can give you my perspective, share my thoughts, creations and inspirations with you, talk with you, laugh with you, cry with you. I can create things for you, as resources to help you focus on the positive, reminders of your AWESOMENESS, and make pretty things to hang on your walls. I can see your beauty, and help you to see it, too.

But at the end of the day, it’s up to you. And that’s okay, you can handle that. You are powerful… so much more than you realise.

I don’t have all the answers. I don’t even want or need all the answers. And that’s okay, too. I’m just doing the best that I can, moment to moment. Sometimes I freak out a little, and I doubt myself a lot. Sometimes I wonder if I have what it takes to achieve my dreams.

I am letting go of my perfectionism when it comes to art, too. I will love what I create, even if it’s messy. I am moving forward with my creations, with my ebooks, ekits and hell, maybe even some ecourses. Because what I have to offer is worthy, valuable and amazing.

A messy painting I did yesterday

I love how this post was originally just meant to be a shout out of pure love, and it morphed into another soul-searching session.

How imperfect of me 😉

Well, thank you so much for ‘listening’ to my rants. I’m always here to listen to you, too. Whenever, wherever.

I’m going to spend the rest of the day walking in the park – the snow is almost completely melted and the weather today is beautiful enough for me to not have to wear my huge puffy George Costanza jacket, yay! Then I’ll be drinking wine and eating mooncakes with my soulmate.

As I sat down to my computer, I was surprised to see that I had over 100 new emails, & I don’t know how unusual that is for some people, but for me it’s way out of the ordinary!

Most of them were telling me about new subscribers to this blog, so a big ‘Hello!’ to all my new readers 🙂 You rock! The other emails were informing me of new twitter & tumblr followers, as well as facebook messages & friend requests.

It took me a second to figure out why I was so popular all of a sudden, then I remembered that my Tiny Buddha post was published today. Needless to say, I did my *happy dance* while eating my peanut butter on toast this morning!

I must say I definitely was not expecting so many people to read my post, not to mention all the re-blogs, tweets, likes, & follows! Not to mention over 1,000 blog views! Awesomeness! 😀

The best surprises of today, however, are all the super encouraging, supportive & kind comments from my readers. So many people can relate to my story, to being lost, & to feeling like a failure. And even more people can relate to finding themselves, their true path, & turning failure into success.

So, to all the people who took the time to read my post & to those who left me such amazing comments: thank you.

Thank you so much.

A lot of your words really inspired me today, & you have all made everything that has happened here in China just that much more worth it.

My passion for writing, creating & sharing my positive vibes with others has grown so much because of all your support, & I intend to make the most of it.

My whole day today has been a complete whirlwind of AWESOMENESS! It has taught me that I really can inspire & help others, that people like my writing, & that what I have to say is worth sharing with the world.

New opportunities have revealed themselves to me as a result of my Tiny Buddha post, & I can’t wait to see what amazing things are heading my way!

But for now, all this excitement has exhausted me. So Mike & I are going to order pizza & watch ‘Home Alone’ to bring in the holiday season, awesome-style 🙂